First Focus

Activities

First Focus claims not to advocate particular policies on education, healthcare, welfare, housing, or taxation but to be alleged bipartisan advocates concerned solely with advancing the safety of children. First Focus defends government programs and policies such as Medicaid, claiming that 35 million children get healthcare through it; the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program; the federal Earned Income Tax Credit; and the Child Tax Credit. It asserts that the latter two tax programs are allegedly responsible for lifting “five million children out of poverty.” ¹

First Focus carries out its advocacy through raising awareness with its analysis and research, Capitol Hill briefings, and one-on-one meetings in which staffers speak directly to politicians and their teams. It also pursues media coverage and social media communications, researches and drafts policy papers for policymakers to use, commissions opinion research, promotes proposed best practices to institutions involved in child welfare, mobilizes partner organizations, and publicly recognizes politicians who have aligned views. ¹

In 2025, First Focus Campaign for Children raised concerns about emerging federal and state-level legislation expanding the scope of parental rights. Specifically, the organization opposed the proposed Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act, which would allow parental rights to be used as a legal defense in cases involving child welfare, provided there was no “serious injury or death.” First Focus warned that such measures could complicate efforts to protect children from abuse and limit their access to essential services. The organization argued that certain provisions of the bill—such as nullifying vaccine mandates and requiring parental consent for all health care decisions—could impede minors’ access to treatment for sexually transmitted infections, mental health care, and reproductive services. First Focus also expressed concern that these measures could deny children the right to refuse practices such as conversion therapy. ²

Funding

In 2019, First Focus had a revenue of $2,832,112, expenses of $2,325,476, and net assets of $2,574,303. ³

First Focus facilitates state regrants for U.S. states, meaning that states give First Focus a budget to then distribute to small organizations on their behalf. In 2019, recipients of First Focus’s state regrant program included Child and Family Policy Center, Children Now, Children Forward, Children’s Action Alliance, Advocates for Children, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, Children First, Juvenile Law Center, True North Group, and Massachusetts’s Law Reform Institute. ⁴

Leadership

As of 2023, Bruce Lesley was the president of First Focus. He has worked in public policy for over 30 years. He has been president of First Focus since at least 2010 and is responsible for both policy development and the internal operations of the organization. Previously he worked on Capitol Hill specializing in healthcare, education, human services, and immigration issues. He worked under Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as senior health policy advisor on the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees, as well as Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) on the Senate Finance Committee. ⁵

As of 2023, First Focus’s board was comprised of Michelle “Missy” Apodaca, attorney at Katten Muchin Rosemann LLP; Anthony Chapple, senior associate vice president of medical economics at Texas Medical Association; Glenn Flores, professor and chair of pediatrics at University of Miami; Dennis Johnson, managing director for strategy and evaluation at Mother Cabrini Health Foundation; Mike Laracy, senior fellow at Annie E. Casey Foundation; Messellech Looby, senior vice president of development and strategy at First Focus; Ronnie Musgrove, Musgrove Smith Law employee and former governor of Mississippi; Joe Payne, president and CEO of Code42; Suzanna Valdez, Roberto Viramontes, chief impact officer at Taproot Foundation, and  the director of college access and success at UNITE-LA. ⁶